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Hi! This is my first post on here, and I LOVE this website!

For my A-Level Music Performance, I will be performing two of Chopin's Nocturnes - Op. 72, No.1 in E minor, and no.20 in C# minor (lento).
I also have to write an investigation, comparing performances of the pieces. So I will be comparing two performances if each piece.
I have been researching the piano that Chopin wrote these Nocturnes on - the Graf pianoforte - and have found a recording of "Richard Burnett" playing both of the Nocturnes on a Graf. And I have found a recording of Horowitz playing Op. 72 (Carnegie Hall 1965), and also need another recording for no.20.
I thought it would be a good idea to make comparisons between performances using the Romantic piano and the modern day piano.
It needs to be a 2500 word essay.

Does anybody have any tips or advice?!

It is always amazingly instructive to compare editions of pieces with a modern critical edition Urtext score. The closest things to a critical edition at IMSLP is the Paderewski edition for Op.72/1 and even that is suspect. For the other Nocturne, definitely do NOT use the version at IMSLP, since the person who submitted it says it "is a slightly simplified version that contains some modifications from the original Chopin manuscripts."

I'd recommend the Wiener Urtext edition, that published by the ABRSM (which might not have the C# piece) or, with some reservations, the Henle edition. The new Peters Chopin edition hasn't yet gotten around to the Nocturnes, unfortunately.

You might also try to find recordings, if they exist, of these pieces played on a 19th century French piano (such as those by Erard or Pleyel). These instruments sound different than Grafs and are potentially more "authentic." To me, a Graf would be more appropriate for Beethoven, Clementi and Dussek (Austro-German music in general). Chopin in general has been poorly served by the original-instrument movement, with few artists of real stature recording on 19th century instruments. But try to hear at least Emanuel Ax's performances with Charles Mackerras of the Chopin concertos on an Erard. Used copies are available for real cheap through Amazon. There are also books on Chopin's playing such as Chopin: Pianist and Teacher: As Seen by his Pupils by Jean-Jacques Eigeldinger.

It will be hard for you to emulate on a modern concert grand the lightness and clarity of sound, especially during soft passages, that you can obtain on a period pianoforte. Erards and Pleyels are in general are more "colorful" than modern instruments in that their timbre changes more drastically with register and volume than a Steinway or Yamaha. But studying what the pieces might have sounded like when played by their composer will give at least some hints as to what you might attempt.

--Sixtus

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleyel_et_Cie
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%A9bastien_%C3%89rard
http://www.amazon.com/Chopin-Piano-Conc ... 686&sr=8-2

The February 2010 issue of BBC Music magazine has a big special section on Chopin in which a sidebar indicates that his favorite piano was a Pleyel. But since he got access to them for free, in return for his endorsement ("the last word in perfection"), one cannot be completely sure that financial considerations weren't also part of his enthusiasm. Apparently he also liked Erards and Broadwoods (no mention of Grafs) I wonder if this Pleyel arrangement changed as parts of his somewhat scandalous personal life were known, a la Tiger Woods!

--Sixtus